Sacred Heart Blog

Army Silences Catholic Chaplains

The Obama administration has been accused of telling Catholic military chaplains what they can and cannot say from their pulpits after the Army ordered Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners from their archbishop.

The Secretary of the Army feared the letter could be viewed as a call for civil disobedience.

The letter called on Catholics to resist the policy the Obama Administration’s policy that would force institutions affiliated with religious groups to provide coverage for birth control, sterilization and “abortifacients.” The Catholic Church believes the mandate represents an unconstitutional violation of freedom of religion.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told Fox News Sunday the Army violated its chaplains’ constitutional rights by barring them from reading the letter – calling for resistance to the contraceptive coverage mandate.

“The Army and the Obama administration said they couldn’t even issue the letter to complain about the Obama administration’s plan on this policy,” Santorum said, calling it a violation of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

“This is the problem when government tells you they can give you things,” said Santorum, a Catholic. “They can take it away but even worse they can tell you how they are going to exercise this new right consistent with their values instead of the values guaranteed in the Constitution.”

On Jan. 26, Archbishop Timothy Broglio emailed a letter to Catholic military chaplains with instructions that it be read from the pulpit.

A portion of the letter was obtained by Business Insider. It reads:

“In so ruling, the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation’s first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty. And as a result, unless the rule is overturned, we Catholics will be compelled to either violate our consciences, or to drop health coverage for our employees (and suffer the penalties for doing so). The Obama Administration’s sole concession was to give our institutions one year to comply.”

The following day, senior chaplains received an email from the Army’s Office of the Chief of Chaplains advising them that the archbishop’s letter was not coordinated with their office – and instructed chaplains not to read it from the pulpit.

The Chief’s office ordered that the letter was to be mentioned in the Mass announcements and distributed in printed form in the back of the chapel.

“Archbishop Broglio and the Archdiocese stand firm in the belief, based on legal precedent, that such a directive from the Army constituted a violation of his Constitutionally-protected right of free speech and the free exercise of religion, as well as those same rights of all military chaplains and their congregants,” read a statement provided to Fox News from the Archdiocese of the Military Services.

According to the AMS, Archbishop Broglio had a telephone conversation with Secretary of the Army John McHugh.

“It was agreed that it was a mistake to stop the reading of the Archbishop’s letter,” the statement read. “Additionally, the line: “We cannot-we will not-comply with this unjust law” was removed by Archbishop Broglio at the suggestion of Secretary McHugh over the concern that it could potentially be misunderstood as a call to civil disobedience.

The issue raises a question among critics: did administration official tell the Catholic Church what it could and could not say in the pulpit?

For the rest of the article click here: Fox News and Commentary

Coffee with Helen

2012-02-09T09:02:00.003-06:00

On Friday, February 3, the Women of Sacred Heart went to visit Helen at the Circle of Life Comfort House. Gloria Lee brought homemade rolls, zucchini bread and a plate of cookies. Coffee was provided by the Circle of Life Comfort House. Helen and the ladies really enjoyed the visit.

Next Friday, February 17 the Women of Sacred Heart are going to visit Rosemary Evans at 10:00 a.m. All the Women of Sacred Heart are invited to attend.

Sitting: Helen Miskimin, Sandy Schmitt, Diane Beatty
Standing: Gloria Lee, Alice Herring, Michelle, McKernan, Mary Phelan, Evelyn Pollard, Jaynane Hardie
Not pictured: Pat Thompson

Newspaper Article for Chariton Paper, February 2

2012-02-06T12:45:00.000-06:00

As Catholic Christians we share with other Christians the joy of the risen Lord and how his death on the cross on Calvary atoned for our sins. We recognize that his death and resurrection is God’s triumph over death and that through the waters of baptism we rise with him to new life. However, grateful though we may be for this reality we are painfully aware of our fallen state and that we as flawed human beings constantly fall prey to sin. Therefore, we recognize the need to be ever vigilant for the sins that we continue to make and repent of them. The Christian life, filled with joy that it is, is also a penitential journey.

No time of year manifests this dichotomous reality as the upcoming season of Lent which begins with Ash Wednesday which falls this year on February 22. Looking forward to the resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday and the joy of the Easter Season we first begin with a forty day season of fasting and penance, a practice which goes back to the early days of the Church. True, Christ rose from the dead but it would not have been possible without the road to Calvary. Likewise, we spiritually prepare ourselves to rise to new life with Christ by our own forty days of the cross mirrored on Christ’s forty days of fasting in the desert before his public ministry.

The mark of this sign of atonement is the ashes that we wear upon our foreheads imposed on Ash Wednesday. It is important to realize that this practice is not done to draw attention to ourselves in a vainglorious way but rather to humbly demonstrate our recognition of our sinful nature and the need to repent. Hopefully, this public witness will also call others to repentance. Unlike the reception of Holy Communion, which is only for Catholics free of mortal sin, the imposition of ashes is open to anyone who recognizes their sinfulness and wish to atone for it. While the wearing of ashes is a sign of our Christian identity we must remember that it is much more than that, it is a sign of what we intend to do. Ash Wednesday Mass is 6:30 P.M. February 22 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.

Rev. Christopher A. Pisut

Pastor, Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Tour of the Church Continued

2012-02-02T07:43:00.000-06:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station X Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

How offensive it must have been to our pure Lord Jesus to have been stripped of His clothes before that crowd who would have cheered at His humiliation. How painful, too, because stripping off His clothes, by now probably adhering to His many cuts and deep lacerations, would have torn open those wounds.

Later, we learn from John, that as Jesus was dying on His Cross, the uncaring soldiers divided His garments among themselves, but His tunic was without seam, “woven from top to bottom,” so they cast lots for it. (John 19:23-24) This garment, perhaps a gift form one of the women who followed Jesus, would have been quite costly.

Pope Benedict writes that the high priest’s garment was, like this, woven from a single thread, so thus we are reminded that Jesus, our high priest, was fulfilling His high priestly ministry by offering sacrifice (Himself) to God.

January 31st, Feast of St. John Bosco

2012-01-31T06:05:00.002-06:00

by Father Ryan Erlenbush

Catholic schools and vocations to the priesthood - The example of Don Bosco

This week, the Catholic Church in the United States of America celebrates Catholic Schools Week. The US Bishops ask us to consider the great blessing which Catholic schools are to our Church and to our community at large.

During Catholic Schools Week, we call to mind the fact that Catholic schools benefit not only the families who send their children there, but the whole Church and all society. Every Catholic, even if he has no children in Catholic schools (even if he has never had children in the schools), should see Catholic schools as his schools – every Catholic benefits from Catholic schools, and every Catholic has a duty of supporting Catholic schools.

Today, I would like to point out one way in which every Catholic benefits from Catholics schools: Catholic schools produce vocations to the priesthood and religious life. It is particularly fitting that we consider this benefit today, the feast of St. John Bosco – the schools which he founded produced over six thousand vocations to the priesthood during his life-time (and countless more since his death).

St. John Bosco inspired over 6,000 vocations to the priesthood before his death

St. John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Society, was born in a small hamlet near Catelnuovo, Piedmont, Italy on 16 August 1815. He died on 31 January 1888, and was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1934.

Don Bosco was filled with a great charity for the poor boys of Turin and other cities, and so he dedicated his life to the education and care of street children, delinquents and other poor youths. His devotion to St. Francis de Sales (which led him to dedicate his society to this great Doctor of the Church) directed him to employ gentler teaching methods based on love and kindness rather than punishment.

In addition to providing good education, safety, and religious instruction to the boys, St. John Bosco’s schools provided the young men with the opportunity of discerning a vocation to the priesthood or religious life. The statistics are amazing:

“At the time of Don Bosco's death in 1888 there were 250 houses of the Salesian Society in all parts of the world, containing 130,000 children, and from which there annually went out 18,000 finished apprentices. […] Up to 1888 over six thousand priests had gone forth from Don Bosco's institutions, 1,200 of whom had remained in the society.” (From the Catholic Encyclopedia)

It is often said that a priest may be happy if he helps two young men to discern a call to the priesthood – one to replace himself, and another to serve for the expansion of the Church. St. John Bosco directly helped six thousand young men to answer the call! All this was possible only through the Catholic schools that Don Bosco founded. Who can doubt the importance of Catholic schools?

For the rest of the article click here: The New Theological Movement

The Church Tour Continued...

2012-01-29T14:28:00.000-06:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station IX Jesus Falls the Third Time

Even with Simon’s help, Jesus probably fell again. As we said earlier, Jesus was suffering not only mentally and spiritually for our sins, but by now, cursed, bloodied, and battered, every part of Jesus’ body must have been in agony. St. Bernard of Clairvaux said that Jesus had revealed to him that the wound on His left shoulder was the most painful of all. At St. Bernard’s urging, Pope Eugenius III granted a 3000 year indulgence to anyone who sincerely prayed the Lord’s Prayer and three Hail Mary’s in honor of this wound. Mother Angelica is the founder of the worldwide communications network EWTN. One of her favorite prayers is an old one entitled the

“Prayer to the Shoulder Wound of Our Lord Jesus.”

O Loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God, I, a miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy Flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy Most Blessed Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus, most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain, and by the crushing burden of Thy Cross, to be merciful to me a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to lead me on toward Heaven along the Way of the Cross. Amen.

Say one Our Father and three Hail Marys.

Women of Sacred Heart Minutes

2012-01-26T16:35:00.002-06:00

Women of Sacred Heart met on Jan. 19, 2012

The meeting was opened by president, Jaynane Hardie, with a prayer at 6:40 p.m. after a delicious supper of soup, cheese, crackers, and fruit.

8 members were present and one guest, Grace Bengtson.

Kylie and Ellie Bengtson, filling in for Gloria Hoeger who was ill, gave the program. They reported on the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis, IN which they attended. 11 youth and 2 chaperones attended from Sacred Heart. 3 or 4 buses went from the DesMoines Diocese. There were several speakers on different subjects. They were mostly impressed with the Mass and the fact that all 23,000 attending were of the same Catholic faith. They each had to pay $100 on their own and the rest of the $450 cost for each came from fundraisers and donations.

Minutes were read and approved.

Money added to treasury was $30 from cookie sale. Expenses $10 to Ben Franklin, $44 for stamps.

Total balance reported by Treasurer $ 2563.70 (included in this is $ 395 held for “Family fund”.)

Old business

1. Vice president, Alice Herring, read thank you notes that were received from several people for the fruit & cookie plates we delivered. We delivered 26 plates to homebound parishioners. Money and fruits were donated by the parish.

2. We assisted 3 residents at Manor Mass and also Communion service at Northridge on Jan. 4th

3. Cookie exchange and bake sale went well due in part we feel since it was combined with the Guadeloupe celebration. Suggest we combine it with something else again next year. We made $30 on the bake sale. Suggestions were made that next year we ask for recipes also.

4. Still searching for someone to be secretary. Diane Beatty volunteered. Her nomination was accepted.

Reports: Interchurch Council representative, Sandy Schmitt, reported a special showing of the movie, Courageous, to be shown Sunday Jan. 22. A “must see” for fathers and young men, but great for all.

A prayer service for Christian Unity will be Jan 24^th at the First Lutheran Church at 7 PM. Kwanis will serve a light meal at 5:30 PM

Sacred Heart will host the Interchurch Council meeting the first Tuesday in March. We’ll talk about this in Feb.

Parish council representative, Pat Thompson, reported that discussion was underway for a St. Patrick’s feast.

New business

Celebrate letters went home with Religious Ed students. We will pay ½ of the cost to participate. Last year 27 participated.

Dues for 2012 membership to Women of Sacred Heart are now due. They are $5. New parishioners to town receive free membership the first year.

Gloria Lee will organize a day for cleaning in the Parish Center.

May 20^th is graduation. We’ll discuss more later. A letter will be sent to the families of the junior class to see about help and food.

New officers for Secretary and Treasurer, Diane Beatty and Sandy Schmitt, respectively, were sworn in by Gloria Lee.

Jaynane thanked Evelyn Pollard for helping her do our light meal.

Next meeting will be Feb. 16^th. Pat Thompson and Alice Herring will provide refreshments.

Gloria Lee moved we adjourn, Seconded by Evelyn. The meeting was closed with the Hail Mary.

Respectfully submitted by Sandy Schmitt for Secretary, Barb Kauffman

Cross, Altar and the Right Way of Praying
By Father Stefan Heid

Recalling the rituals and rubrics of the past which retain their meaning today.

In the Vatican, and in the pontifical basilicas of Rome (formerly called “patriarchal basilicas”), a ruling has recently been made that a standing cross should be placed at the center of high or freestanding altars. No specification is given as to the kind and size of the cross. As a rule, the implementation of this request has been appropriate: a high-standing cross with corpus has been set in place facing the priest celebrant, such that he is able to look upon the crucified Jesus. Such a request, which articulates what should actually be a matter of course, may come as a surprise. But in Rome, for many years prior to this time, the bad habit had developed of pushing the cross to the corner of the altar, so that it would not “disturb,” facilitating a “television friendly” liturgy, especially for papal Masses.

The cross is the focal point of salvation and of liturgical action. It should, of course, harmonize with the altar in style and proportion, but it should certainly not be low standing. The cross is supposed to disturb! The priest is not supposed to “overlook” it! However, the objection is sometimes made that a barrier is created by the cross between clergy and people, something on the line of an iconostasis (a wall of icons in Eastern rite churches, separating the nave from the sanctuary). But this is a specious argument as even the enormous altar cross in the Basilica of St. Peter does not really block the view. There are very few churches, after all, where the people face the altar straight on; more commonly, they face the altar from a lateral perspective, looking past the cross to the priest. Moreover, the higher the cross is placed, the less likely it will obstruct the people’s view. It thus becomes for all a spiritual “attention-getter” (if it is aesthetically high-standing). Finally, it is further objected that an altar cross creates a doubling of crucifixes, in the case that a cross already hangs above or behind the altar. However, the cross on the altar is for the priest, facing him with its corpus, while the faithful look at their cross above the altar.

There will no doubt be some clashes with liturgical committees, when pastors, choosing to follow Roman custom, begin taking their altar crosses out of the closet. In order to forestall precipitous reactions in these debates, we would like to establish the larger context in which the discussion belongs. There are a number of liturgical practices that have disappeared from use over centuries. Without a reflective look at these rituals, however, it could easily happen that even the loveliest of liturgical directives would shrivel into meaningless formalism.

Once this point has been acknowledged, the implication is that the priest at the altar takes on a different attitude, or mindset, than he has anywhere else. Here he stands, first and foremost, as one who prays. Christianity recognizes this distinctive prayer posture where the priest raises his hands, as well as his eyes. The raising of hands and eyes belongs, inseparably, to the gesture of practiced in the Jewish tradition. Standing in prayer is also part of this tradition, seen as a fundamental posture for one in prayer; on one’s knees praying, likewise, uses elevated hands and eyes, all dating back to early Christianity. Since the Middle Ages, this prayer posture, with hands and eyes raised, has faded somewhat from practice. Now, it is only the priest raising his hands (and eyes for only a few short moments) because he is reading prayers. He does look up, for instance, in the Roman canon at the time of the consecration while speaking the words: “et elevatis oculis in coelum”. Therefore, Jesus inaugurates the Eucharist “with eyes raised to heaven.”

Even in the ordo novus, the rubric at this point reads: “He (the priest) raises his eyes.” But where exactly is the priest supposed to be looking, at the church ceiling? So when the priest in reciting a prayer is required to look upward, rather than simply staring into space, the obvious focal point is a high-standing cross on the main altar.

Of course, the practice of having a cross on the altar facing the priest is not only needed for a few isolated moments. It has a more general purpose. When the priest stands at the altar in unceasing prayer to God, he will be gazing at God’s Son, through whom his every petition, his every word of praise, is, in fact, offered.

For continued reading click here: Homiletic and Pastoral Review

Sanctity of Human Life Day

2012-01-20T18:37:00.001-06:00

A press release from Iowa Right to Life

January 20, 2012--Des Moines, Iowa--This Sunday, January 22, 2012, marks the 39th anniversary of the tragic Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We mourn together for the millions of lives lost; and continue to work valiantly toward the day when all human lives are protected. Iowa Right to Life is honored to stand alongside Governor Terry Branstad as he continues to offer his unwavering allegiance to the sanctity of all human life", stated Jenifer Bowen, Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life.

Governor Branstad offered the following Proclamation today:

"Whereas: It is imperative to recognize the dignity of each human life; albeit the unborn child, the infirm, the elderly; AND

Whereas: All human life is to be valued and protected in every stage of development, beginning at fertilization with continued deference until natural death; AND

Whereas: Sanctity of human life has been inherently recognized throughout the United States of America since the adoption of our Declaration of Independence; AND

Whereas: January 22nd is the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court pronouncement overturning states rights to protect the lives of unborn children; AND

Whereas: More than 54 million innocent lives have been lost to abortion in the years following the devastating 1973 Roe v. Wade decision; and the demoralizing impact continues to reverberate from one generation to the next throughout the United States.

Now Therefore, I, Terry E. Branstad, Governor of the State of Iowa, do hereby proclaim January 22nd, of each year as Sanctity of Human Life Day and call upon Iowans to recognize the value of each human life and vow to protect the lives of the unborn, the infirm and the elderly."

2012-01-16T19:00:00.000-06:00

Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN
While sitting as the fortieth president of the United States, Ronald Reagan sent Human Life Review this article shortly after the tenth anniversary of Roe v. Wade; HLR printed it with pride in their Spring, 1983 issue.
The 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade is a good time for us to pause and reflect. Our nationwide policy of abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators — not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973. But the consequences of this judicial decision are now obvious: since 1973, more than 15 million unborn children have had their lives snuffed out by legalized abortions. That is over ten times the number of Americans lost in all our nation's wars.

Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right granted by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right. Shortly after the Roe v.Wade decision, Professor John Hart Ely, now Dean of Stanford Law School, wrote that the opinion "is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." Nowhere do the plain words of the Constitution even hint at a "right" so sweeping as to permit abortion up to the time the child is ready to be born. Yet that is what the Court ruled.

As an act of "raw judicial power" (to use Justice White's biting phrase), the decision by the seven-man majority in Roev. Wade has so far been made to stick. But the Court's decision has by no means settled the debate. Instead, Roe v.Wade has become a continuing prod to the conscience of the nation.

Abortion concerns not just the unborn child, it concerns every one of us. The English poet, John Donne, wrote: ". . . any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life — the unborn — without diminishing the value of all human life. We saw tragic proof of this truism last year when the Indiana courts allowed the starvation death of "Baby Doe" in Bloomington because the child had Down's Syndrome.

Many of our fellow citizens grieve over the loss of life that has followed Roe v. Wade. Margaret Heckler, soon after being nominated to head the largest department of our government, Health and Human Services, told an audience that she believed abortion to be the greatest moral crisis facing our country today. And the revered Mother Teresa, who works in the streets of Calcutta ministering to dying people in her world-famous mission of mercy, has said that "the greatest misery of our time is the generalized abortion of children."

Over the first two years of my Administration I have closely followed and assisted efforts in Congress to reverse the tide of abortion — efforts of Congressmen, Senators and citizens responding to an urgent moral crisis. Regrettably, I have also seen the massive efforts of those who, under the banner of "freedom of choice," have so far blocked every effort to reverse nationwide abortion-on-demand.

Despite the formidable obstacles before us, we must not lose heart. This is not the first time our country has been divided by a Supreme Court decision that denied the value of certain human lives. The Dred Scott decision of 1857 was not overturned in a day, or a year, or even a decade. At first, only a minority of Americans recognized and deplored the moral crisis brought about by denying the full humanity of our black brothers and sisters; but that minority persisted in their vision and finally prevailed. They did it by appealing to the hearts and minds of their countrymen, to the truth of human dignity under God. From their example, we know that respect for the sacred value of human life is too deeply engrained in the hearts of our people to remain forever suppressed. But the great majority of the American people have not yet made their voices heard, and we cannot expect them to — any more than the public voice arose against slavery — until the issue is clearly framed and presented.

What, then, is the real issue? I have often said that when we talk about abortion, we are talking about two lives — the life of the mother and the life of the unborn child. Why else do we call a pregnant woman a mother? I have also said that anyone who doesn't feel sure whether we are talking about a second human life should clearly give life the benefit of the doubt. If you don't know whether a body is alive or dead, you would never bury it. I think this consideration itself should be enough for all of us to insist on protecting the unborn.

For the rest of the article click here: Catholic Education Resource Center

Minutes from Women of Sacred Heart

2012-01-15T08:39:00.001-06:00

WOMEN OF SACRED HEART

The Women of Sacred Heart met Thursday November 17, 2011 at the Parish Center. There were 7 members present. The November meeting was called to order by President Jaynane Hardie at 6:30 pm. Barb Kauffman passed out a written prayer for our families and the members of our Parish. All joined in reading it.

Our guest speaker, Kris Bengston, gave a talk about the 100^th Anniversary of the Des Moines Dioceses celebration. There were over 1500 kids and they all wore royal blue shirts with “One Way to Heaven” on them. Kris said the youth speaker, from Dallas Texas, was really good with the kids. He had them singing along with his guitar playing. He told them there is no such thing as coincidence, it is God. The Bishop came in and gave them a pep talk and they sang Happy Birthday to the Dioceses. The youth entered the Hall last and fanned off to the sides, all in their blue shirts, they stood and joined in the singing. There were 3 big screens so everyone was able to see. They had videos of six different people giving witness to their Faith. Mike Curran, from Sacred Heart was one of the six. He did a wonderful job. In all there were 6,000 in attendance. Kris felt it was awesome to watch and hear and interact with everyone. We could tell how exciting it was just listening to Kris talk about it. Thank you, Kris.

Barb Kauffman read the minutes from the October meeting. The minutes were approved. The Treasurers report was 2,614.35 of that, 395.00 is in the family fund, leaving a balance to spend of 2,219.35.

The correspondence was read: we received a thank you card from CIS.

Reports:

Manor Mass was on 11/16/11 Janet Ripperger, Sandy Schmitt and Connie Hoch helped. Three from the Manor attended. They didn’t go to Northridge.

Out Reach: Sandy delivered the gift card to the family in need.

Inter Church Council: Sandy reported their Thanksgiving Celebration will be 11/27/11 at 7 pm at the Community of Christ Church. They held a coat drive, but Sandy didn’t know about it in time to let Sacred Heart know, as the ICC meeting in November was on November 1^st, which was a Holy Day for us.

Old Business:

In answer to the mop heads being cleaned, Connie Hoch takes care of it.

Prayer Shawls, the Legacy Lodge doesn’t need any right now. It was suggested to leave a Prayer Shawl in the Chapel & pew for anyone to use while there.

New Business:

Nomination Committee: Sandy Schmitt called 4 people, all said no to being secretary. Sandy Schmitt accepted the nomination for Treasurer. The Nomination carried. They will keep searching for a Secretary.

Christmas Brunch: It will be on December 15^th from 9am to noon, at Sandy Schmitt’s home, located at 1209 N. 17^th Street. Everyone is to bring one dozen cookies for the plates, to be readied for delivery to our shut-ins. We will do the 25 plates at noon. Alice will put a notice in the bulletin for cookies, fruit and/or money for the plates.

Cookie Exchange: Kathy Willits will be in charge of the cookie exchange/bake sale. Everyone is to bring 3 dozen cookies, 2 dozen to exchange and 1 dozen to sell at the bake sale. It will be held after Mass on Sunday December 11^th in the Parish Center.

Celebrate 2012: will be in February, we need to send flyers home with the Religious Ed kids letting them know WOSH will pay ½ of the registration fee.

Upcoming Events:

Holy Day – Immaculate Conception on December 8^th

Celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe – dinner and activities at the Parish Center after Sunday Mass on December 11^th.

Our next meeting will be January 19,2012. Our guest speaker will be Gloria Hoeger.

Evelyn Pollard and Jaynane Hardie will bring snacks. Thank you to Barb Kauffman and Sandy Schmitt for tonight’s refreshments.

Gloria Lee made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Sandy Schmitt. Meeting adjourned at 7:50pm.

We closed with a Hail Mary.

Respectfully submitted,

Barb Kauffman, secretary

Reminder- Christmas Brunch and Cookie Plates

2011-12-13T17:10:00.001-06:00

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

2011-12-12T23:12:00.000-06:00

Thanks to all who made this a successful event. A special thanks to Dora Blankenhagen, Delores Milnes, Estella Beismeyer, Brenda Blong for the delicious meal. Thanks goes to Gloria Lee for her organizational skills in running the kitchen and also to the kitchen helpers: Michelle McKernan and Kathy Willets. Thanks to those who pitched in at the last minute to fill in where it was needed.

The Church Tour Continued

2011-11-13T16:49:00.001-06:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station VIII Jesus Console the Holy Women

Throughout His earthly ministry, we read in scripture, there were women who followed Jesus ad took care of Him. (Remember May and Martha, for example?)

Pope Benedict points out that all four of the gospel writers discuss the presence of women at the foot of the Cross. Mark s]writes, for example, “There were also women looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome, who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered to him and also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.” (15:40-41)

Referring to these women, Pope Benedict cities the prophet Zechariah: They shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weeps bitterly over him, as one weeps over firstborn.” (12:10)

These faithful women were not just with Jesus at His crucifixion. Luke say that as Jesus made His painful way to Calvary, “...there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, But weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” In other word, Bible commentators tell us, Jesus is comforting while at the same time warning the women. He is saying that there is still time for the people to repent and accept their Messiah, but if they do not, a terrible tragedy is coming. The commentators believe Jesus was referring to what happened to Jerusalem just a few years after Jesus died. In 70A.D. Jerusalem was destroyed by siege, war, and fire, and the people suffered horribly. And this destruction, the commentators add, prefigures the judgement of all nations at the end of times.

Tour of the Church Continued

2011-10-31T07:43:00.002-05:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station VII Jesus Falls the Second Time

By now, further weakened and exhausted, not just by his physical abuse but because in His agony in Gethsemene Jesus had willingly agreed to take upon Himself all our sinfulness, it is logical to assume Jesus must have fallen.

In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul says, “For our sake [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin..” How could Jesus become sin? What did Paul mean?

In his book called The Grace of Ars Father Frederick L. Miller attempts to explain what Paul meant by quoting a sermon by Saint John Henry Newman.

“There, then, in that most awful hour, knelt the Savior of the world, putting off the defenses of His Divinity, dismissing His reluctant Angels, who in myriads were ready at His call, and opening His arms, baring His breast, sinless as He was, to the assault of His foe,-- of a foe whose breath was a pestilence, and whose embrace was an agony. There he knelt, motionless and still, while the vile and horrible fiend clad His spirit in a robe steeped in all that is hateful and heinous in human crime, which clung close around His heart, and filled His conscience, and found its way into every sense and pore of His mind, and spread over Him a moral leprosy... Oh, the horror, when He looked, and did not know Himself, and felt as a foul and loathsome sinner, from His vivid perception of that mass corruption which pored over His head and ran down even to the skirts of His garments! Oh, the distraction, when He found His eyes, and hands and feet, and lips, and heart, as if the members of the Evil One, and not of God! Are these the hands of the immaculate Lamb of God, once innocent, but now red with ten thousand barbarous deeds of blood? Are these His lips, not uttering prayer, and praise, and holy blessings, but as if defiled with oaths, and blasphemies, and doctrines of devils? Or His eyes profaned as they are by all the vile visions and idolatrous fascinations for which men have abandoned the Adorable Creator? And His ears, they ring with sounds of revelry and of strife; and His heart is frozen with avarice, and cruelty, and unbelief; and His very memory is laden with every sin which has been committed since the fall... Oh, who does not know the misery of a haunting thought that comes again and again... Or of some odious and sickening imagination... Or of evil knowledge... which he would give a great price to be rid of once and for ever?... these gather round Thee, Blessed Lord, in millions now... Of the living and of the dead, of the as yet unborn, of the lost and of the saved, of Thy people and of strangers, of sinners and of saints, all sins there...

They are upon Him, they are all but His own; He cries to His Father as if He were the criminal, not the victim... He is doing penance. He is making confession, He is exercising contrition with a reality and a virtue infinitely greater than that of all the saints and penitents together; for He is the One Victim for us all, the sole Satisfaction, the real Penitent, all but the real sinner.”

Father Miller also quotes a sermon by Hans Urs von Balthasar: “Jesus, the Crucified, endures our inner darkness and estrangement from God, and he does so in our place... There is nothing familiar about it to him: it is utterly alien and full of horror. Indeed, he suffers more deeply than and ordinary man is capable of suffering, even were he condemned and rejected by God, because only the incarnate Son knows who the Father really is and what it means to be deprived of him and to have lost him... forever.”

Considering all of this, is it any wonder that Jesus fell?

Tour of the Church Continues...

2011-10-24T05:08:00.001-05:00

Station VI Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

written by Pat Thompson

Was there a real woman who wiped Jesus’ face and--if so--was her name Veronica? The Bible doesn’t record this event, but many still suggest there might have been such a woman. Veronica comes from the two Latin words that mean “true image.” There is a face cloth, called the Cloth of Montipello, that has long been thought to contain the true image of Jesus. The face it reveals is swollen, the lips are swollen, showing a man who has been badly beaten. This image, many experts say, matches the image of the Shroud of Turin, but it is not thought to be Veronica’s veil. Rather, it is considered to be the cloth that was put over Jesus’ Face when He was laid in the tomb.

THE MASS IN ALL ITS GLORY

Literature Professor Offers Insights Into the Poetry of the New Translation

By Kathleen Naab

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, SEPT. 29, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Literature professor and translator Anthony Esolen has written what could be called a doorway to the new translation of the Roman Missal.

ZENIT: To serve as introduction, why did Magnificat pick you to give a commentary on the new translation?

ZENIT: You suggest that a translator is hired to be humble, regardless of what he's translating. Explain this and how it applies to the liturgy.

ZENIT: People have complained that the sentences in the new translation are unwieldy, with many phrases strung together. You defend this practice. Why?

ZENIT: You also offer three defenses for preferring a literal translation of the Latin. One of those you describe as "unlocking the figurative meaning beneath." Could you give an example?

Esolen: The 1973 text was often deaf to the precise meanings of English words. It wasn't simply that the paraphrasers misconstrued the Latin. They misconstrued the English also, or they were not paying close attention to the English. The example above is a case in point. The Latin visibilium et invisibilium is not the same as visorum et insivorum. When we say "seen and unseen" in English, we mean those things we happen to see and those things we happen not to see. So, for instance, I have not seen a certain planet in the heavens, nor have I seen the mother of St. Peter, or the stone rolled before the tomb where Jesus was buried. But all those things are visible, provided there be someone at hand to see them. When we declare that the Father is the creator of all things visible and invisible, we are affirming the existence of things that no one can see with the eyes of the body, unless God chooses to make them manifest: angels, for instance; but also such immaterial objects as the moral law.

ZENIT: How would you suggest using this commentary?

Esolen: The Mass must increase, and I must decrease! I'd read the commentary as a way of becoming familiar with the beauties and the subtleties of the text -- as if walking through a doorway -- and then I would put the commentary aside and meditate upon the prayers of the Mass themselves in all their glory.

--- --- ---

On the Net:

Roman Missal Companion: www.magnificat.com/romanmissal/roman_missal_companion.asp

Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

2011-10-04T06:41:00.003-05:00

written by Mary Katherine Laird

Born Giovanni Francesco di Bernardone; 1181/1182 in the town of Assisi, Italy, Francis was the son of a wealthy cloth merchant, Pietro Bernadone and his wife, Pica. As a youth, Francis was devoted to his amusements and seemed carried away by the mere joy of living, taking no interest at all in his father's business or in formal learning. His father, proud to have his son finely dressed and associating with young noblemen, gave him plenty of money, which Francis spent carelessly. It was the age of chivalry, and he was thrilled by the songs of the troubadours and the deeds of knights.

When he was about 20 years old, Francis was taken prisoner during a petty scrimmage with the Perugians. Despite a year of captivity he remained cheerful, keeping up the spirits of his companions. He suffered a long illness following his release. After his recovery Francis joined the troop of a local nobleman who was riding to fight under Walter de Brienne for the Pope against the Germans. The night before Francis set forth he had a strange dream, in which he saw a vast hall hung with armor all marked with the Cross. A voice said, "These are for you and your soldiers." Confident now that he would win glory as a knight, he set out again, but on the first day fell ill. While lying helpless, a voice seemed to tell him to turn back, and "to serve the Master rather than the man." Francis obeyed.

At home he began to take long, lonely walks in the country. He felt disgust for a life wasted on trivial things. It was a time of spiritual crisis during which he was quietly searching for something worthy of his complete devotion. A deep compassion was growing within him. Riding one day in the plains below Assisi, he met a leper whose disgusting sores filled Francis with horror. Overcoming his revulsion, he jumped from his horse and pressed into the leper's hand all the money he had with him, then kissed the hand. This was a turning point in his life. He started visiting hospitals, especially the refuge for lepers, which most persons avoided. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he emptied his purse at St. Peter's tomb, then went out to the swarm of beggars at the door, gave his clothes to the one that looked poorest, dressed himself in the fellow's rags, and stood there all day with hand outstretched. The rich young man would experience for himself the bitterness and humiliation of poverty.

One day, after his return from Rome, as he prayed in the humble little church of St. Damiano outside the walls of Assisi, he felt the eyes of the Christ on the crucifix gazing at him and heard a voice saying three times, "Francis, go and repair My house, which you see is falling down." The building, he observed, was old and ready to fall. Assured that he had now found the right path, Francis went home and in the singleness and simplicity of his heart took a horse load of cloth out of his father's warehouse and sold it, together with the horse that carried it, in the market at the neighboring town of Foligno. He then brought the money to the poor priest of St. Damiano's church, and asked if he might stay there. Although the priest accepted Francis' companionship, he refused the money, which Francis left lying on a window sill.

Bernadone, furious at his son's waywardness, came to St. Damiano's to bring him home, but Francis hid himself and could not be found. He spent days praying before he went to face his father. Francis had changed so much in appearance that boys in the streets pelted him and called him mad. The angry Bernadone beat Francis, chained his feet, and locked him up. Later his mother set him free and Francis returned to St. Damiano's. His father again pursued him there, declaring angrily that he must either return home or renounce his share in his inheritance-and pay the purchase price of the goods he had taken. Francis made no objection to being disinherited, but protested that the other money now belonged to God and the poor. Bernadone had him summoned for trial before Guido, the bishop of Assisi, who heard the story and told the young man to restore and trust in God. "He does not wish to have His church profit by goods which may have been unjustly acquired." Francis not only gave back the money but went even further. "My clothing is also his," he said, and stripped off his garments. "Hitherto I have called Pietro Bernardone father.... From now on I say only, 'Our Father, Who art in Heaven.’" Bernardone left the court in sorrow and rage, while the bishop covered the young man with his own cloak until a gardener's smock was brought. Francis marked a cross on the shoulder of the garment with chalk, and put it on. Then and there, as Dante sings, were solemnized Francis's nuptials with his beloved spouse, the Lady Poverty.

And now Francis wandered forth into the hills behind Assisi, making up songs of praise as he went. "I am the herald of the great King", he declared in answer to some robbers, who took all he had and then tossed him in a snow drift. Naked and half frozen, Francis crawled to a neighboring monastery and there worked as a servant. Later at Gubbio, Francis obtained from a friend the cloak and staff of a pilgrim. Returning to Assisi, he went around the city begging stones to restore St. Damiano's, eventually rebuilding the old chapel. He also restored two other deserted chapels-- St. Peter's and St. Mary of the Angels of the Portiuncula, belonging to a Benedictine monastery on Monte Subasio. It stood in the wooded plain, some two miles below Assisi, forsaken and in ruins.

Francis seems to have thought of spending his life there as a hermit, in peace and seclusion. Here on the feast of St. Matthias (May 14), in 1209, the way of life he was to follow was revealed to him. The Gospel of the Mass for this day was Matthew 10: 7-19: "And going, preach, saying The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.... Freely have you received, freely give. Take neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses . . . nor two coats nor shoes nor a staff.... Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves...." These words suddenly became Christ's direct charge to him. His doubts over, he cast off shoes and staff, keeping only his rough woolen coat, which he tied about him with a rope. This became the habit he gave his friars the following year. In these humble garments he went to Assisi the next morning and, with a touching warmth and sincerity, began to speak to the people he met on the shortness of life, the need of repentance, and the love of God. His salutation to those he passed on the road was, "Our Lord give you peace."

Francis went from village to village humbly preaching the love of God. He soon attracted followers. An early disciple was Bernard Quintavalle, a wise and wealthy merchant, who invited Francis to stay at his house. Bernard soon told Francis that he would sell all his goods, give the proceeds to the poor and accompany him. With Peter de Cattaneo, they went down to the Portiuncula, where, on April 16, Francis "gave his habit" to these two companions and they built themselves simple huts. Other men soon followed. They distributed all their wealth to the poor. Francis and his followers went all over Italy preaching, teaching, healing and blessing wherever they went.They preached the necessity of a poor, simple life-style based on the ideals of the Gospels. This gospel of kindness and love of Francis soon spread all over Europe.

In the summer of 1210 Francis and some others went to Rome to obtain the Pope's approval. Innocent III, the great ruler of Catholic Europe, listened and after some initial hesitation ultimately approved. He gave Francis and his followers permission to preach on moral topics, only requiring that they always get the consent of the local bishop; also they must choose a leader with whom the ecclesiastical authorities might communicate. Francis was elected head, and the men were given the monk's tonsure.

St. Francis collected many followers and founded the Order of Mendicant Friars or Franciscans--Friars Minor (lesser brothers). The members of this Order take a vow of poverty, chastity, love and obedience. In 1212, Chiara Offreduccio (Clare), a young heiress of Assisi, moved by the holy man's preaching, sought him out, and begged to be allowed to embrace the new manner of life he had founded. By his advice, Clare (only 18 years old) secretly left her father's house and with two companions went to the Porziuncola. There Francis welcomed them to the life of poverty, penance and seclusion, cutting their hair and clothing them in the Minorite habit. These pious maidens became what is known as the Second Franciscan Order of Poor Ladies, now known as Poor Clares. Later he established another branch for lay men and women who wished to associate themselves with the Friars Minor and followed as best they could the rules of humility, labor, charity, and voluntary poverty, without withdrawing from the world: the Franciscan tertiaries or Third Order. These congregations of lay penitents became a power in the religious life of the late Middle Ages. Besides the three branches of the order that he established, many other religious societies bear his name.

Because the body was meant to carry burdens, to eat scantily and coarsely, and to be beaten when sluggish or refractory, Francis called it "Brother Ass". When early in his new life, he was violently tempted, he threw himself naked into a ditch full of snow or on occasion he plunged into a briar patch. Yet before he died he asked pardon of his body for having treated it so cruelly; by that time he considered excessive austerities wrong, especially if they decreased the power to labor. He had no use for eccentricity for its own sake. Once when he was told that a friar so loved silence that he would confess only by signs, his comment was, "That is not the spirit of God but of the Devil, a temptation, not a virtue."

Francis was reverently in love with all of God's creation—sun, moon, air, water, fire, flowers. His tenderness towards animals has been noted again and again. He saw that all of creation had been made by the Father, so to St. Francis every creature was his brother. There are stories that St. Francis would preach to birds and wild animals about the love of God and they would listen attentively until he finished. He is said to have persuaded a wolf to stop attack- ing some locals in the village of Gubbio if they agreed to feed the wolf. St. Francis' love of nature is beautifully expressed in his famous song of praise, Canticle of the Sun.

In 1219, during the Fifth Crusade, Francis made his famous but at that time fruitless attempts to convert the sultan al-Kamil while the crusaders laid seige to Damietta in Egypt. These attempts had far-reaching consequences, long past his own death, since after the fall of the Crusader Kingdom it would be the Franciscans, of all Catholics, who would be allowed to stay on in the Holy Land and be recognized as "Custodians of the Holy Land" on behalf of Christianity.

Our tradition of a Nativity scene comes from St. Francis. St. Bonaventure in his Life of St. Francis of Assisi, writes: "That in order to excite the inhabitants of Grecio to commemorate the nativity of the Infant Jesus with great devotion, [St. Francis] determined to keep it with all possible solemnity; and lest he should be accused of lightness or novelty, he asked and obtained the permission of the sovereign Pontiff. Then he prepared a manger, and brought hay, and an ox and an ass to the place appointed. The brethren were summoned, the people ran together, the forest resounded with their voices, and that venerable night was made glorious by many and brilliant lights and sonorous psalms of praise... the Holy Gospel was chanted by Francis... Then he preached to the people around the nativity of the poor King;... He called Him the Babe of Bethlehem."

It was on or about the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, that Francis received on his body the visible marks of the five wounds of the Crucified Christ. The saint's right side is described as bearing an open wound which looked as if it were made by a lance, while through his hands and feet were black nails of flesh, the points of which were bent backward. After the reception of the stigmata, Francis suffered increasing pains throughout his fragile body, already broken by continual deprivation and discipline. In the end, he was brought back to a hut next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of October 3, 1226, singing Psalm 141. He was canonized July 16, 1228 by Pope Gregory IX. His feast day is October 4.

During the Middle Ages, a number of movements were based on the ideal of poverty. What made the movement led by St. Francis different was his attractive personality and passionate dedication to the message he preached.

St. Francis is honored in Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran churches. He has been the inspiration of countless books, music, films and art.

Sources:

Wikipedia

Catholic Encyclopedia

EWTN.com

Tour of the Church Continued...

2011-09-30T11:50:00.000-05:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station V Simon Helps Jesus to Carry His Cross

John says that Jesus “went out bearing his own cross.” (19:17) Yet weakened by His long hours of question and torture, Jesus must have needed help. Mark says, “And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.” (15:21)

Cyrene was in North Africa. Did you ever wonder how the gospel writers knew Simon’s name, his region, and even his sons’ name? This experience of helping Jesus to carry His Cross was surely a powerful one, so powerful that afterwards Simon must have made contact with Jesus’ followers, and he and his sons must have become believers. Why do many people think this? Paul in Romans 16:14 mentions Rufus, and some Bible commentators suggest this Rufus, who has become well-known in early Church, is Simon’s son.

Station VI Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

We Are Catholic

2011-09-27T19:59:00.001-05:00

The Magisterium and Catholic Social Teaching
Rev. C. J. McCloskey III
What is the magisterial authority of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), and how is it applied to real world situations? Catholic Social Doctrine is simply the voice of the Church, starting with the Sacred Scripture and the Church Fathers, that lays out the principles of how justice and charity are to be lived out in the world.
The contemporary era of CST began with Pope Leo’s XII’ Rerum Novarum in 1891, and continues up to Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas in Veritate. Through the social documents, one can see a gradual development that reflects the Church’s study of the times. That is to say, the Church is always looking to update and clarify the basic principles of Social teaching, given new economic situations and technologies, without ever contradicting authoritative past teaching.
Confusion enters in when Catholic lay faithful (and in some cases clergy) mistakenly claim for their opinions the absolute magisterial authority of the Church and correspondingly denounce as un-Catholic the conflicting positions of others, whether their political criticism comes from the left, right, or center. The basic error is the failure to see that the foundational teachings and principles of CST can be applied in practice in a wide variety of ways — and working out the application of such principles in any given case rightly falls mainly to the laity, not the hierarchy. The magisterial Church’s role, normally exercised through the local ordinary (the bishop), is to point out when these applications appear to diverge from the principles and teachings themselves.
Conflicting opinions on CST fall into three basic camps:
Those (including both some on the Catholic Left and Traditionalists) who seem to believe that all CST is Catholic doctrine, from basic principles of social justice down to their specific applications in the documents. They would argue, for example, that Pope Paul VI’s 1967 encyclical Populorum Progressio requires Catholics to support government-to-government aid to developing nations (regardless of conflicting opinions about whether such aid actually harms the recipients). This group makes little distinction between the principles and their application.
Those who hold that the principles of CST constitute definitive Church teaching and require assent, but that the applications found in Church documents are strictly prudential.
Those who hold that CST constitutes the combined institutional wisdom of a Church that has existed since the Roman Empire. This group would argue that, while Catholics should follow CST, the principles are of relatively recent origin and therefore do not constitute definitive doctrine.

Before delving deeper into these questions, we should also consider another modern development: the post-Vatican II emergence of national conferences of bishops (known as episcopal conferences), and the extent to which, especially in the United States, such conferences speak and teach authoritatively on issues of Catholic social teaching. There has been much confusion in this area, going back to the American bishops’ conference’s endorsement of controversial documents largely written by bureaucrats. The most noteworthy of these statements, emerging during the Reagan years in the context of the Cold War, dealt with nuclear weapons and was titled “The Challenge of Peace.”
The reaction from the Catholic right was great. One of the founders of this magazine, Michael Novak, spearheaded a group of lay Catholic writers who issued a “pastoral” letter disagreeing with some of the conclusions of the conference’s document, as well as with the bishops’ authority on the subject and the extent to which their teaching was normative for their flock. The Novak piece, which took up an entire issue of National Review, was later published as Moral Clarity in the Nuclear Age (Nashville: Thomas Nelson).
Happily, the collapse of the Evil Empire and the end of the Cold War made “The Challenge of Peace” largely a dead letter. However, in 1997, the Committee on Marriage and Family of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued an even more controversial document titled “Always Our Children: A Pastoral Message to Parents of Homosexual Children.”
On the bright side, this document led the Vatican (or, more precisely, Pope John Paul II) to issue a clarifying motu proprio (a document issued by the pope on his own initiative and personally signed by him), Apostolos Suos, on May 21, 1998. Apostolos Suos confirmed the limited authority of national bishops’ conferences, along with their associated committees, commissions, advisors, and experts. Since Vatican II, these had tended to usurp the fundamental canonical responsibility of an individual bishop as chief teacher of the faith in his diocese.
In a statement apparently directed principally toward the USCCB, the Holy Father wrote, “Commissions and offices exist to be of help to bishops and not to substitute for them.”
Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger also commented on the purview of episcopal conferences: “Episcopal conferences do not constitute per se a doctrinal instance which is binding and superior to the authority of each bishop who comprises them.” However, “if the bishops approve doctrinal declarations emanating from a conference unanimously, they can be published in the name of the conference itself, and the faithful must adhere” to them.
In practice, this has never happened.
Apostolos Suos made clear that the magisterium of the Church comes from the Holy Father and the bishops in communion with him, and not from episcopal conferences. That question is therefore settled. Now let’s turn to what the Church teaches about the implementation of the social doctrine of the Church.

For the rest of the article click here: Crisis Magazine

The Tour of the Church Continued...

2011-09-23T06:49:00.004-05:00

Station III Jesus Falls the First Time

This incident is not recorded in the Bible, but it is reasonable to believe that Jesus--who had been beaten, severely scourged, crowned with thorns, and had lost a lot of blood--might have fallen not once but many times on His journey to Calvary.

Station IV Jesus Meets His Blessed Mother

Again, this meeting is not recorded in scripture, but can we imagine Jesus’ Blessed Mother not being there to offer Him her love and support? Remember when, years earlier, Mary and Joseph had taken the infant Jesus to the Temple to be presented to the Lord and there met and old man named Simeon? Simeon prophesied that “a sword” would pierce Mary’s soul. (Luke 2:35) Surely she now understood Simeon’s prophecy as she saw her beloved Son go through this terrible torment. Notice how our depiction of this moment shows Mary’s heartbreak. She is so distraught that she can barely stand.

Tour of the Church Continued

2011-09-11T06:22:00.000-05:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station II Jesus Carries His Cross

“... and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10:38

“If any man would come after me, Let him deny himself and take up his cros and follow me.” Matthew 16:24

What was Jesus really saying with these words? Think what a challenge these words were to those who had actually witnessed men carrying their crosses, saw how the crowds shouted and spat and perhaps threw things at them, and smelled the sweat and blood of the victims as they staggered by.

Was Jesus preparing us for the fact that being his faithful followers would not be easy? Was He telling us that just as He was patient, forgiving, long-suffering, and self-sacrificing so would we need to be? Was He warning us that we might also have to face the criticism and jeers of others when we try to act and talk and live in ways pleasing to Jesus? Certainly many Christians, many followers of Christ--even today--have had to suffer and die because they faithfully followed their Saviour.

Tour of the Church Continued

2011-09-03T14:23:00.002-05:00

written by Pat Thompson

Station I Jesus is Condemned to Die

Station I at Sacred Heart

The trial of Jesus occurred in stages. Before Palm Sunday there was a meeting of the Sanhedrin (high priest, elders, scribes in the house of Caiaphas (John 11:47- 53), Mark 14:1, Matt. 26:3-4, Luke 22:1-2) where it was decided that Jesus should be put to death. Caiaphas prophetically declared, “You do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” (John 11:50) John adds that Caiaphas did not realize that Jesus would die “...not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.” (11:52) Thus we are reminded that Jesus suffered and died for all of us.

A few days after Palm Sunday, the temple authorities and the high priest Caiaphas ordered that Jesus be arrested. After His betrayal by Judas in the Garden of Gethsemene, Jesus was taken to the hight priest’s palace, where the Sanhedrin was waiting. After some cross-examination and conflicting testimony by witnesses, the Sanhedrin found Jesus guilty of blasphemy because--as our Catechism tells us--they “did not recognize God made man” but rather “saw in him only a man who made himself God.” (CCC 594) The penalty for blasphemy was death, but only Romans could inflict the death penalty so Jesus had to be taken to Pilate. (Steve Ray says it is believed that Jesus was then thrown into the cistern of Caiaphas’ palace until He could be taken to Pilate in the morning. The cistern probably had at least mud in it if not a lot of water. What a miserable, lonely time for our dear Jesus.)

It was hot in Jerusalem at this time of year, so it is thought that Jesus was probably taken to Pilate in the cooler morning hours, sometime around 7 or 8 o’clock. Because it was the day of preparation for the Passover feast, the Jewish priests wanted to retain their “purity” and so would not enter Pilate’s praetorium. (On the day of preparation the lambs brought for sacrifice were certified as spotless and ten were slaughtered in the afternoon so that they might be part of the evening meal. One historian wrote that about 250,000 lambs were killed on this day and that the Temple ran red with their blood.) At the same time that the priests were certifying that each lamb was spotless, Pilate was saying “...I find no blame in this man.” (Luke 23: 4) Still, the innocent Son of God would shed His blood for our guilt.

“Who were Jesus’ accusers?” Pope Benedict asks. He points out that the temple aristocracy-- though not all of them (Remember Nicodemus?)-- and the mob, many of whom were supporters of the robber and insurrectionist Barabbas, cried out, “His blood be on us and on our children.” Over the centuries these words have been used to justify hatred and mistreatment for Jews. But, Benedict reminds us,”...Jesus’ blood speaks a different language from the blood of Abel (Hebrews 12:24): it does not cry out for vengeance and punishment; it brings reconciliation. It is not poured out against anyone; it is poured our for many, for all...read in the light of faith, it means we all stand in need of the purifying power of love which is his blood. These words are not a curse, but rather redemption, salvation.”

To appease his accusers, Pilate ordered that Jesus be scourged. The “Roman” soldiers were actually not all Romans. Some were Egyptians and Syrians who hated Jews, so how spitefully, how cruelly they must have used the flagellum--the whips with leather thongs ending in bones and pieces of glass. 1 Peter 2:24 says, “By his wounds (or stripes) you have been healed.” Imagine what Jesus suffered so that we might be saved.

Crowning with Thorns 1542 Vecellio Tiziano

After the scourging the soldiers crowned Jesus with thorns. It is believed that this crown was not so much the wreathe that is often depicted in works of art but rather more like a cap. Steve Ray points out that the scalp is tender with many blood vessels so Jesus must have experienced more great pain and bleeding from this fomr of torture.

Why is the crown/cap of thorns so significant Ray reminds us of two major references to thorns and thistles in the Old Testament. First, in Genesis God tells the disobedient Adam,, “...cursed is the ground because of you; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you...” But at the same time God promised the tempter, the serpent, “ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruised your head, and you shall bruise his heel. (3:15-18) The thorns Jesus wears reminds us that now the new Adam--obedient to God--has come to conquer evil and sin.

In Genesis 22 Isaac carries the wood that he is to be offered upon but not understanding that it is he himself that his father Abraham is about to sacrifice, Isaac asks his father “where is the lamb” to be sacrificed. Abraham says, “God will provide himself the lamb...”(22:8) This event reminds us that Jesus, the Father’s Son and the spotless, blameless Lamb, knew what was about to happen-- that He Himself was to be the sacrifice--and yet he willingly carried the wood upon which He would die.

Station I at Saint Brendan

(Sidelight: it has long been taught that the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac is the place where hundreds of years later Jesus died on the Cross. It is also interesting to not that it is in Genesis 22:2 where the word love is first used in the Old Testament. It expresses Abraham’s love for Isaac--a father’s love for his son. And we are reminded of another Father’s love for His Son. God the Father says in Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.”)

Looking back at our Station I, we might notice Pilate washing his hands before the crowd and say, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood.” (Matt. 27:24) Even though Pilate believed Jesus to be innocent, he lacked the courage and integrity to release Him. Now, even 2,000 ears later, he is remembered as the man who condemned Jesus to death. Perhaps Pilate’s failure to defend Jesus might make us recall Jesus’ words in Matthew “So every one who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven: but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is heaven.” (10:32-33)

Tour of the Church Continued

2011-08-30T20:47:00.003-05:00

written by Pat Thompson

Click on image to make it larger.

Stations of the Cross

Books could be and have been written on the last few days and moments of Jesus’ life. Most of the following information--very abbreviated--has come from Steve Ray’s cd Stations of the Cross, Pope Benedict’s book Jesus of Nazareth Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection and The Catechism of the Catholic Church.

When discussing the Stations it might be helpful to discuss first a bit of history.

Even in the first and second centuries a few pilgrims traveled what has been called Via Dolorosa or the Way of Sorrows, the path Jesus walked on His way to Calvary. Journals have been found from pilgrims writing in the third and fourth centuries about their visits to the holy sites. In 2010 more than three million Christians walked the two and a half miles around Jerusalem through Jewish, Christian, Armenian, and Muslim quarters, all seeking to follow the “Way of the Cross.”

No one knows for certain the exact route Jesus’ was forced to walk, but location of some key places have been determined, in spite of the fact that now people--due to the accumulations of the various societies living there over the centuries--walk about nine feet above the street level where Jesus once walked.

Although people have sought to follow in Jesus’ footsteps since the earliest times of Christianity, the cost and the time it took to travel there inspired St. Francis of Assisi to start the chapel version of the Station of the Cross. Thus we have mounted on the wall of our church fourteen Stations to help us recall and grieve over and give thanks for Jesus’ great sacrifice of love for us.

Over the years there have been anywhere from eleven to thirty Stations but the standard number is now fourteen, or fifteen because of the importance of remembering that the resurrection followed Jesus’ death.

Eight, or nine, of the Stations have a biblical basis Six are not mentioned in the Bible but are reasonable to believe.

To be continued...

Knights of Columbus Annual Picnic

2011-08-28T15:26:00.000-05:00

written by Dwight Hoch

The annual Sacred Heart parish picnic was held on Sunday, August 21st at the home of Dwight and Connie Hoch. We were blessed with perfect weather conditions again this year. The meat, drinks and table service were provided by the Knights of Columbus and those who attended brought a side dish to share. After lunch, the annual Ladder Golf Tournament was held with winning honors going to the team of Ken Lee and Dwight Hoch. They each received a traveling trophy for their accomplishment. The Wiffle Golf Tournament had eight contestants with the lowest score being posted by last year’s champion, Ken Lee.

Thanks to all who attended!

Study for this Fall

2011-08-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

Fall Study 2011

As Catholics, the Mass is the center of our Faith. We celebrate it every day. We know all the responses. We know all the gestures. But do we know what it all means?

In this five-part DVD series Edward Sri takes the viewer on an exciting tour of the liturgy. Based on the revised translation of the Mass which goes into effect Advent, 2011. It explores the biblical roots of the words and gestures we experience in Mass and explains their profound significance.

Sacred Heart Parish will be offering A Biblical Walk Through the Mass at three different days and times this fall:

Study I- This study begins on Monday, October 10 and ends Monday,
November 7, between the hours of 7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m.

Study II- This study begins on Tuesday, October 11 and ends Tuesday,
November 8, between the hours of 9:00 a.m.- 11:00 a.m.

Study III- This study begins on Wednesday, October 12 and ends
Wednesday, November 9, between the hours of
8:00 p.m.- 10:00 p.m.

The cost of the study will be $14.00. Make payments out to Sacred Heart. Donations to cover the extra cost of running the program would be greatly appreciated. Please sign up by Sunday, September 11. You may drop your registration in the collection basket with an envelope marked Bible study or mail to Connie Hoch at 52172 State HWY14, Chariton, IA.

Name ____________________________________ e-mail address__________________________

Phone number____________________ Study I, II or III ? _________ donation _______________

Sacred Heart Parish Picnic

2011-08-14T12:44:00.000-05:00

When: Sunday, August 21. meal starts at 12:30

Where: Home of Dwight and Connie Hoch

Who: ALL Parishioners

Meat, drinks, and table wear provided

What to bring: chair, dish to share

HOPE TO SEE EVERYONE THERE!!!!

Video on the New Translation of the Roman Missal

2011-08-12T09:43:00.004-05:00

Word for Word [Teens] from Life Teen on Vimeo.

Fatherless by Brian J. Gail

2011-08-07T22:21:00.004-05:00

Review by Danielle Hoch

“This is a hard saying. Who can accept it?” That’s what we find Michael Burns, Joe Delago, Maggie Kealey, and Father Sweaney asking themselves in the page-turning novel, Fatherless. Living in the modern world where the family is attacked by foes on every front, each must decide that answer to the same question. Can we accept the hard teachings of Christ?

Michael Burns, a man who finds himself uncovering hidden truths about the contraceptive known to many only as The Pill, wonders just how far he is morally obligated “to fight the good fight”? Should he risk losing his job to let the women of the world know the dangers that the pill has inflicted upon their bodies including blood clots, infertility, and a fifty-percent increase in breast cancer risk? Take it a step further, should he risk losing his family?

Joe Delago is a star who has everything going for him. Moving to New York so he can play in the “big league” presents new opportunities in the advertising business but new spiritual challenges as well. Will challenging the pornographic and violent programming lead to his end?

The girl that every boy wanted a date with in high school finds her family suddenly under attack. With a litany of children and constant health problems, she wonders if artificial contraceptives can help save her marriage. Things take a turn for the worse when her daughter, Moia, has a sudden personality change as the girl deals with the demons of her past.

Lastly, Father Sweaney loves the flock he shepherds. Will he compromise the truth that has been given to him by the Church so that they will love him back? Will he trust his parish with the truth?

A riveting book that address the real issue of living out the Catholic faith in a growing anti-Catholic world. It forces us to ask ourselves if we will reject the hard sayings of Christ or respond with Peter, “Lord to who would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.”

Video on the New English Translation of the Roman Missal

2011-08-04T18:24:00.000-05:00

Posted at the New Liturgical Movement

More about the new, corrected version of the Confiteor

Here is something I wrote for my weekly column in the UK’s best Catholic weekly, The Catholic Herald.

And With Your Spirit

by Fr John Zuhlsdorf

Confiteor

The first major change people will notice in the new, corrected English translation for Holy Mass will be, as we saw last week, the response “And with your spirit”. After that, in many places – depending on the penitential rite option chosen by the priest – the next major change will be to the Confiteor (“I confess”). I suspect younger priests will more and more choose this option.

Our English word “confess” comes from the Classical Latin confiteor, confessus, “to acknowledge, confess, own, avow (an error, mistake, or a fact previously denied or doubted, etc., implying a sacrifice of will or a change of conviction”. In ancient Christian Latin, a confessio was the witness, unto death, made by a martyr. Confiteor was used for recognition of the greatness of God, and then later recognition of one’s faults. When we speak of a Confiteor now, we mean the public declaration, together with others, of our own fallen sinful state at the beginning of Mass.

In Matthew 18 Our Lord urges us to make peace with each other before coming to the altar of sacrifice. In Luke 18 He tells the parable of the tax collector who beat his breast in the temple, calling himself a sinner. When we enter the holy precincts of a church for the sacred action of Mass, we should have a healthy sense of our unworthiness which leads to outward expressions in our worship or sorrow and thanksgiving.

That said, try reading this aloud.

THE NEW CORRECTED TRANSLATION:
I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, [And, striking their breast, they say:] through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; [Then they continue:] therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Note the changes. We will now admit in English, as Catholics have done together for centuries in Latin, that we have not merely sinned, we have “greatly sinned”. The strong, uncommon word “grievous”, echoing pre-Conciliar hand missal translations, emphasizes that even a lesser sin is a true offense against God’s love.

The most dramatic difference in the new, corrected translation will be the reintroduction of the provocative three-fold mea culpa. And we are to strike our breast. Please do strike your breast!

In 5th century North Africa, the great Doctor of Grace St. Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) observed in a sermon (s. 67.1) how the people automatically beat their breast whenever they heard the wordconfiteor. In another place he said they struck themselves so forcefully that the sound resounded in the church. The 20th century writer of the Liturgical Movement, Romano Guardini (d. 1968) wrote in his 1955 work Sacred Signs:

“To brush one’s clothes with the tips of one’s fingers is not to strike the breast. We should beat upon our breasts with our closed fists. … It is an honest blow, not an elegant gesture. To strike the breast is to beat against the gates of our inner world in order to shatter them. This is its significance. … ‘Repent, do penance.’ It is the voice of God. Striking the breast is the visible sign that we hear that summons. … Let it wake us up, and make us see, and turn to God”.

For the rest of the article click here: WDTPRS

The Cross of Christ Custom for Marriage

2011-07-18T05:23:00.000-05:00

Author Unknown

In the town of Siroki-Brijeg in Herzegovina not one single divorce has been recorded among its 13,000 inhabitants. Not one single family has broken up in living memory. For centuries, because of the pressure of the Turks and then the Communists, the people suffered cruelly as their Christian faith was always threatened. They knew through experience that salvation comes through the cross of Christ. That is why they have indissolubly linked marriage to the Cross of Christ. They have founded marriage which brings forth human life, on the Cross, which brings forth divine life. The Croatian marriage tradition is so beautiful that it is beginning to take hold in Europe and America too.

When a couple is preparing for marriage, they are not told that they have found the ideal partner. No! What does the priest say? You have found your cross. And it is a cross to be loved, to be carried, a cross not to be thrown away, but to be cherished.I know if fiancs were told this in my home country France, they would be struck dumb. But in Herzegovina, the Cross represents the greatest love and the crucifix is the treasure of the home.

When the bride and groom set off for the church, they bring a crucifix with them. The priest blesses the crucifix, which takes on a central role during the exchange of vows. The bride places her right hand on the crucifix and the groom places his hand over hers. Thus the two hands are bound together on the cross. The priest covers their hands with his stole as they proclaim their vows to be faithful according to the rites of the Church.

The bride and groom do not then kiss each other, they rather kiss the cross. They know that they are kissing the source of love. Anyone close enough to see their two hands joined over the cross understands clearly that if the husband abandons his wife or if the wife abandons her husband they let go of the cross. And if they abandon the cross they have nothing left. They have lost everything for they have abandoned Jesus. They have lost Jesus.

After the ceremony, the newlyweds bring the crucifix back and give it a place of honour in their home. It becomes the focal point of family prayer, for the young couple believes deeply that the family is born of the Cross. When a trouble arises or if a conflict breaks out, it is before this cross that they will seek help. They will not go to a lawyer, they will not consult a fortune teller or an astrologer, they will not rely on a psychologist to solve the problem. No, they will go straight before their Jesus, before the cross. Theyll get on their knees there and in front of Jesus they will weep their tears and pour out their hearts, and above all exchange their forgiveness. They will not go to sleep with a heavy heart because they will have turned to Jesus, the only One who has the power to save.

They will teach their children to kiss the cross every day and not to go to sleep like pagans without having thanks Jesus first. As for the children, as far back as they can remember, Jesus has always been the friend of the family, respected and embraced. They say nighty, night to Jesus and kiss the cross. (As Fr. Jozo says "They go to sleep with Jesus, not a teddy bear") They know that Jesus is holding them in his arms and that there is nothing to be afraid of, and their fears melt away in their kiss to Jesus.

Recommended by Father Pisut

2011-07-14T22:26:00.000-05:00

written by Fr. Dwight Longenecker for his blog "Standing on My Head"

Comments on Cohabitation
Every pastor will agree that marriage prep in our day present some impossible moments. The fact is, the majority of couples who present themselves for marriage in the Catholic Church are co-habiting. Furthermore, they don't see any problem with it, and seem rather surprised when the priest challenges them on their living situation. I have recently come across some good priestly comments when presented with cohabiting couples who want to be married in church.

See what you think:
1. I'm so glad you want to get married. That's certainly the right thing to do as you are already living together. The church is free next Saturday at 2:00. The two of you turn up with a couple of witnesses and we'll tie the knot. Of course, since you're already living together it would be artificial and pretty tacky for you to have a big, fancy wedding, so there's no need to have all those bridesmaids and groomsmen and limousines and so forth. You'll also save yourselves a lot of money. So is that settled then?
2. So let me get this straight. The two of your are living together and having sex right? To the girl: Are you sure you really want to get married to a man who is has sex outside of marriage? If he treats marriage so lightly what reason have you to think that he would change after marriage? To the guy: Ditto.

Usually the couple offer the excuse that it is cheaper for them to live together.

3. So you're living (and sleeping) together because of economic reasons? In other words, living together is cheaper than living separately and sex is part of the deal? This means money is more important to you than sexual morality. Look at it another way, you're being financially rewarded for having sex outside marriage. Many people would have another name for this. To the guy: is this the sort of girl you want?
4. To the girl: Help me understand: you decided to move in with this guy so that you would help pay the rent and utilities. He gets sex whenever he wants it, (because of course you are using contraception) and I wonder who ends up doing most of the housework and washing and cooking and shopping? You get all the responsibility of marriage, but no security, no legal status and he could drop you whenever he wants--maybe with a baby on the way? And you call this women's liberation?
For the rest of the post click here: Standing on My Head

Recommended by Father Pisut

2011-07-11T14:47:00.000-05:00

USCCB Media Blog: 10 points in favor of going to Posted on 11 July 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

I am all for any official entity of the Church promoting the Sacrament of Penance.

The media blog of the USCCB has a post by Sr. Mary Ann Walsh about the Sacrament of Penance. Shall we have look with my usual approach of emphases and comments?

Confession: It puts you straight with everyone
Penance, aka confession, is the sacrament of the forgiveness of sin. You can’t beat it for convenience. [Not to mention salvation.] It’s available practically whenever. Tell a priest you want to go to confession and you’ll get his attention. One bishop I know was cornered on an airplane. Another passenger figured out what was going on and asked if he could confess too. It must have been an interesting game of musical seats. An interesting question for priests might be: Where was the strangest place you ever administered the sacrament of penance? The answers I’ve gathered include “in a sports bar, at a graduation party” and “on the golf course, walking up the fairway.”
Confession has benefits. Here are ten:
1. Confidentiality guaranteed. There’s nothing like confessing your sins [That's the key, isn't it? Forgiveness of sins. I am glad to see that the word was mentioned at the top.] to someone guaranteed not to tell anyone else. Sometimes you need to talk in absolute confidence. Even under subpoena, a priest can’t tell anyone what’s said to him in confession. He can’t even hint at it. Now that’s confidentiality.
2. Housekeeping for the soul. It feels good to be able to start a clean life all over again. Like going into a sparkling living room in your home, it’s nice when clutter is removed – even if it’s your own. [Again, it is about forgiveness of sins.]
3. A balm for the desire for revenge. When you have been forgiven you can forgive others. If the perfect Jesus forgives me, who am I to want to avenge the slights in my life. Think: “Why did they promote him over me?’ or “Mom played favorites!”
4. Low cost therapy. It’s free, which makes it cheaper than a psychiatrist for dealing with guilt. [To a certain extent yes. But some people need the help of a professional as well. The confessional is more the "tribunal dock" than it is the "couch".]
5. Forced time to think. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Toexamine our lives and acknowledge failings marks the first step of making things right with God, others and ourselves. Life can be more worth living when you ponder the meaning of your own life.

For the rest of the post click here: WDTPRS

Totus Tuus Water Fight

2011-07-04T22:04:00.002-05:00

Totus Tuus Bonfire

2011-06-30T07:48:00.002-05:00

Totus Tuus Potluck

2011-06-29T08:04:00.002-05:00

Totus Tuus Mass and Eucharistic Adoration

2011-06-28T09:29:00.002-05:00

Double click to make video larger.

Totus Tuus Daily Activities

2011-06-27T11:40:00.001-05:00

Double click to make video larger.

Recommended by Father Pisut

2011-06-23T00:00:00.000-05:00

Monday, June 20, 2011

When a Priest's Accused

written by Father Dwight Longenecker

I have no doubt that some of the priests who are now on 'administrative leave' have been falsely accused, and it is terrible to read some of the comments of those who have been gathering around in the wake of the Corapi affair like a pack of hyenas to fight with others for their bite of the corpse. I'm not saying John Corapi is innocent or guilty. We don't know, but everyone deserves a fair hearing and to judge the man too harshly for his recent decision is also unfair. We just don't know the facts. We should step back and observe and pray and hope good comes from these events.

However, we should also take the opportunity to look again at the whole matter of accusations against priests. The standards we have for our priests are just about as high as they can get. At the same time the demands we make on their time and their personalities are just about as high as they can get. Furthermore, while the standards and expectations are just about as high as they can get, at the same time the complaining and gossip and back biting against our priests is about as high as it can get. The lack of co operation, lack of appreciation, negativity and criticism is also about as high as it can get. It's basically like this: Father has to be Jesus Christ here and now, but not just Jesus Christ, but everybody's particular understanding of Jesus Christ, and if Father should fail and let someone down he gets both barrels. Not just that: Father doesn't have to even fail. He only has to be perceived as failing to get both barrels. Not only will the bad Father has done be used against him, but the good he says and does will be used against him.

Here's an example from a priest I know. Father wants to buy a couple of beautiful new statues for the church. So he gets copies of the images printed up and he distributes them to the congregation for consideration. He's being consultative. He's trying to share his vision. He's trying to inspire the congregation. He's asking if they like these and want him to buy them. He asks for their feedback, and in the first day someone offers to buy both statues. Others say how much they like them. All well and good. So Father lets slip, in his enthusiasm, that someone has already offered to buy both statues. Next thing he knows the gossip mill has gone into overdrive and the message among the faithful is, "Father has already ordered those statues. The whole consultative thing was a sham. We don't like the statues and he is imposing them on us."

For the rest of the article click here: Standing on my Head

Recommended by Father Pisut

2011-06-22T06:30:00.002-05:00

JUNE 21, 2011 4:00 A.M.

Maureen Dowd’s Catholic Problem
The latest innovation in a long line of bigotry
written by George Weigel for the National Review Online

Anti-Catholicism is arguably the oldest bias in the history of the American people. Or so Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. — who had no dog in the fight — once told the dean of U.S. Catholic historians, Fr. John Tracy Ellis. Over the centuries, however, anti-Catholicism in America has taken on several forms.

In its classic New England iteration, anti-Catholicism was shaped by Protestant and, later, Enlightenment-rationalist assumptions. Both were neatly summarized in a letter from John Adams to his wife, Abigail, written during the First Continental Congress after Mr. Adams had undertaken an anthropological expedition through the streets of Philadelphia:

This afternoon, led by curiosity and good company, I strolled away to mother church, or rather grandmother church. I mean the Romish chapel. . . . [The] entertainment was to me most awful and affecting: the poor wretches fingering their beads, chanting Latin, not a word of which they understood; their pater nosters and ave Marias; their holy water; their crossing themselves perpetually; their bowing to the name of Jesus, whenever they hear it; their bowings, kneelings, and genuflections before the altar. The dress of the priest was rich white lace. His pulpit was velvet and gold. The altar piece was very rich, little images and crucifixes about; wax candles lighted up. . . .
Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear, and imagination — everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.

Adams, it should be noted, contributed handsomely to the building of a Catholic church in Boston in the years after the Revolution; the passionate support for the cause of American independence displayed by such Federalist leaders as Charles Carroll of Carrolton had, evidently, caused the Sage of Quincy to reconsider. But in that 1774 letter to Abigail, he neatly summed up an indictment against Catholicism that would show remarkable staying power in the United States over the centuries: Catholicism is superstition; Catholics are ill-educated, priest-ridden boobies; the Church is a vast, money-making machine that sucks the lifeblood of the poor and ignorant; no educated person could possibly take the doctrines of the Church seriously.

Please continue reading to find out about the anti- Catholicism of today. Click here for the rest of the article: National Review Online

Sacred Heart Blog

Recommended Reading

Army Silences Catholic Chaplains

Coffee with Helen

Newspaper Article for Chariton Paper, February 2

Recommended Reading

Tour of the Church Continued

January 31st, Feast of St. John Bosco

Catholic schools and vocations to the priesthood - The example of Don Bosco

The Church Tour Continued...

Women of Sacred Heart Minutes

Recommended Reading

Cross, Altar and the Right Way of PrayingBy Father Stefan Heid

Cross, Altar and the Right Way of Praying

Sanctity of Human Life Day

Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation

Minutes from Women of Sacred Heart

Recommended Reading

Reminder- Christmas Brunch and Cookie Plates

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Recommended Reading

Cardinal Burke reflects on his first year in the Sacred College

Recommended Reading

Black must come back (in the Liturgy)

The Church Tour Continued

Recommended Reading

Tour of the Church Continued

Recommended Reading

Tour of the Church Continues...

Recommended Reading

THE MASS IN ALL ITS GLORY

Recommended Reading

Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi

Tour of the Church Continued...

We Are Catholic

Recommended Reading

The Tour of the Church Continued...

Recommended Reading

Tour of the Church Continued

Recommended Reading

Tour of the Church Continued

Recommended Reading

Tour of the Church Continued

Knights of Columbus Annual Picnic

Recommended Reading

Komen Gave $569K to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz in 2010

Recommended Reading

Study for this Fall

Recommended Reading

Sacred Heart Parish Picnic

Video on the New Translation of the Roman Missal

Fatherless by Brian J. Gail

Video on the New English Translation of the Roman Missal

Recommended Reading

More about the new, corrected version of the Confiteor

The Cross of Christ Custom for Marriage

Recommended by Father Pisut

written by Fr. Dwight Longenecker for his blog "Standing on My Head"

Comments on Cohabitation

Recommended by Father Pisut

USCCB Media Blog: 10 points in favor of going to Posted on 11 July 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Totus Tuus Water Fight

Totus Tuus Bonfire

Totus Tuus Potluck

Totus Tuus Mass and Eucharistic Adoration

Totus Tuus Daily Activities

Recommended Reading

Recommended by Father Pisut

Monday, June 20, 2011

When a Priest's Accused

Recommended by Father Pisut

Cross, Altar and the Right Way of Praying
By Father Stefan Heid